1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mini DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen) connector, and especially to a mini DIN connector having a reduced height above a printed circuit board and a spacer assembled to an insulative housing thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional mini DIN connector comprises a dielectric housing having a mating face. An annular recess is defined in the mating face and a circular portion extends into the recess. The circular portion defines a plurality of terminal passageways extending therethrough and receiving a plurality of terminals therein. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,637,669, 5,035,651, and 5,041,023 each disclose such a connector. When the connectors of the above-mentioned patents are mounted to printed circuit boards, the whole connectors are located above the printed circuit boards, which is undesirable in the circumstance where the heights of the components above the printed circuit board are limited.
One solution for the above issue is to provide an electrical connector which is partly located below a printed circuit board when the connector is mounted on the printed circuit board. However, the connector also has several disadvantages to overcome. First, the terminals of the connector are soldered to the printed circuit board by Surface Mounting Technology (SMT). The SMT requires expensive machine, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of the connector. Second, the connector has no spacer for retaining the solder portions of the terminals, so the solder portions of the terminals are not positioned accurately and the electrical connecting between the printed circuit board and the connector is unreliable.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.